1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for vacuumizing an air conditioner, and more particularly, to a device and a method for vacuumizing the air conditioner having a plurality of compressors and a plurality of condensers respectively corresponding to the compressors, by use of a single vacuum pump.
2. Prior Art
In general, an air conditioner has an indoor unit installed in a room, and an outdoor unit installed outside the room. The outdoor unit has a compressor for compressing refrigerant and a condenser for condensing the refrigerant compressed by the compressor, and the indoor unit has an evaporator for generating cool air by evaporating the refrigerant condensed by the condenser.
The compressor, the condenser and the evaporator are connected serially by refrigerant pipes so as to form a closed circuit. Therefore, the refrigerant returns to the compressor after circulating the compressor, the condenser and the evaporator in order. The refrigerant is filled up in the refrigerant pipes by a separate device for feeding the refrigerant, and in order to fill up the refrigerant sufficiently and enhance the operational efficiency of the cooling system, the inner space of the closed circuit has to be vacuumized previously. Therefore, in the process of manufacturing the air conditioner, the inner space of the closed circuit is vacuumized by a vacuum pump, and then the refrigerant is filled up into the closed circuit.
Recently, a so-called multiple type air conditioner system has been proposed, which has a plurality of compressors and a plurality of condensers. The multiple type air conditioner system enhances the efficiency of cooling by supplying a proper amount of efrigerant into respective evaporators. Such a multiple type air conditioner system has a plurality of cooling systems, each of which forms a closed circuit, so a plurality of vacuum pumps are used in order to vacuumize the respective cooling systems.
FIG. 3 show an outdoor unit of a multiple type air conditioner system employing a conventional vacuumizing device, which particularly shows an outdoor unit 101 having a pair of compressors 103a and 103b and a pair of condensers 107a and 107b.
Refrigerant suction pipes 109a and 109b respectively connected to evaporators (not shown) in an indoor unit are connected to the inlets of the respective compressors 103a and 103b, and refrigerant discharge pipes 105a and 105b connected to the inlets of the condensers 107a and 107b are connected to the outlets of the respective compressors 103a and 103b. The condensers 107a and 107b and the evaporators are connected with each other by refrigerant supply pipes 111a and 111b.
The device for vacuumizing such an air conditioner is comprised of a pair of vacuum pumps 119a and 119b, and a pair of manifolds 117a and 117b. The inlets of he manifolds 117a and 117b are connected with the refrigerant suction pipes 109a and 109b and the refrigerant supply pipes 111a and 111b. Thus, the manifolds 117a and 117b, the compressors 103a and 103b, and the condensers 107a and 107b form two closed circuits. The vacuum pumps 119a and 119b are connected to the manifolds 117a and 117b, respectively.
In order to vacuumize the outdoor unit 101, the valves (not shown) installed on the inlets of the manifolds 117a and 117b connected to the respective closed circuits are opened, and then the vacuum pumps 119a and 119b are operated to draw the air from the manifolds 117a and 117b.
According to such a conventional vacuumizing device, as shown in FIG. 4, two vacuum pumps 119a and 119b have to be connected to each of the outdoor units 101. If the outdoor unit 101 has many compressors and many condensers, a number of vacuum pumps and manifolds corresponding thereto have to be equipped in order to vacuumize the respective outdoor unit 101. Therefore, the cost of manufacturing vacuumizing device increases.